Verlume updates progress on subsea power trials for wave energy converter
Aug. 31, 2023
A four-month subsea power test program involving Mocean Energy’s Blue X wave energy converter has finished 5 km offshore eastern Orkney, northern Scotland.
According to partner Verlume, which contributed the Halo underwater battery package, the tests proved that a subsea battery storage system can reliably power subsea equipment through being recharged by a wave energy device, dispensing with the need for a more costly power umbilical.
The main aims were to
Confirm the feasibility of using renewable energy to power subsea equipment, employing intelligent subsea battery storage to manage inherent intermittency and deliver a continuous power output through the batteries; and
Demonstrate that the system could provide power to subsea electronics modules, provided by Baker Hughes, in the process simulating the control and communications needed for subsea wellheads using 100% renewable energy.
In addition, tests were undertaken using a resident AUV supplied by Transmark Subsea, with a docking station integrated onto the Halo system to form a charging point and a communications link to the surface via the Halo through the Blue X.
Courtesy Mocean Energy
The AUV was charged 50 times to prove effective power delivery to underwater vehicles.
The test program has since been extended with the various systems remaining in the water and trials continuing to spring 2024, providing data on maintainability, survivability and reliability.
This Phase 3 of the Renewables for Subsea Power project. Under Phase 2, the core technologies underwent onshore tests at Verlume’s facility in Aberdeen.
